The Obsidian Isles

Almost a millennia ago, an ancient civilization existed that most now commonly refer to as, the “Vanguard.” For reasons that archaeologists, scholars, and other intellectual types are still trying to understand, the civilization fell seemingly overnight, leaving behind only their wondrous works. Over the next 979 years, empires have risen, and empires have fallen. Ruins of the Vanguard have been used, abused, looted, and scattered, leaving much of the truth shrouded in mystery.

Based on the artifacts that were recovered, they were an exceptionally advanced arcane civilization spanning most of the world. Churches, private collectors, and arcane institutions alike have been working for centuries to gather these artifacts, and study them in hopes to both determine what happened, and to advance our own understanding of the arcane.

Recent discoveries have paved the way to what many are calling, the “Dawn of the Second Arcane Age.” Based almost entirely off of studying Vanguardrelics, the understanding of the arcane has exploded in the past 20 years. Concepts such as infusing items with lasting arcane energies is something that only within the last decade has become possible, albeit only in a limited capacity. Even then, unless you’re rich (or you killed someone who was), you probably don’t have any way of acquiring one.

Much of the world is still in a medieval age, whereas the cities with arcane institutions are thriving in a sort of Arcane Industrial Age. This disparity has lead to quite a few of political struggles ranging from trade disputes to outright war.

The known world is largely made up of common humanoid races living throughout the various kingdoms around the world. Aside from your giant forest spiders, cave trolls, goblins, and the like, the world is fairly traditional. While creatures such as Dragons are known to exist, there haven’t been any widespread sightings in well over a century. Wyverns are more common, but tend to stick to the mountains leaving well enough alone. Generally speaking, the world has been left to the workings of Kings and Kingdoms for the last thousand years.